Pfalz D.III The German Air Force began
equipping fighter units with the rugged and reliable Pfalz D.III in August
1917. It helped revive Germany's air superiority over the Allies. Compared
to its contemporary rivals, the Pfalz D.III was not a great fighter, but
it was very fast in a dive. They were used
against the AFC on 4th July 1918 at the Battle of Hamel. The
AFC were dropping ammo and food to the 3rd Division and came under attack from
Pfalz fighters who were driven off.

At
the outbreak of war in Europe on 4 August 1914 Tauben were already in
service with the air forces of Italy, Germany and Austro-Hungary as
observation and training aircraft, and many later-famous German pilots
learned to fly on aircraft of this type. Privately owned Tauben were
impressed for military service, and a large-scale production programme
was put in hand. By this time Dr. Etrich had relinquished his copyright
in the design, following a dispute with Rumpler, and this left the way
clear for Tauben for various types to be built in Germany by the
A]batros, DFW, Gotha, Halberstadt, Jeannin, Kondor, Krieger, LVG,
LilbeckTravemuinde and Rumpler factories. About five hundred
Tauben were built in Germany, those by DFW and Jeannin being known as
Stahltauben because of their steel-framed fuselages.

In August 1914 the Taube quickly
proved its worth as a reconnaissance aircraft when it gave the Germans
warning of a Russian advance during the Battle of Tannenburg. Later that
month it was used for bombing when Lt. von Hiddesen dropped a small load
of tiny bombs on Paris. The Taube was a stable aircraft with pleasant
flying characteristics, and considering that it was already four years
old when war broke out, its performance for 1914-15 was not at all bad.

However, it was not highly manoeuvrable, and since it carried no
armament other than crew members' revolvers or rifles), it was of little
front-line value by the spring of 1915. It remained in use for a year or
more thereafter as a very useful training type

The Taube (Dove) The Taube's wing design is
based on the zanonia tree seed pod, which drifts through the air for
great distances.

The Taube was used to
drop bombs on the 1st Light Horse Brigade
killing eight men and wounding twenty-two. Fortunately other bombs
missed the mark. In addition to the casualties amongst the men,
thirty-six horses were killed, nine wounded, and 123 missing.

The FOKKER Triplane

The
Fokker Dr 1was a successful plane in
World War One.

It was known as one of the best dogfighters of the war.

It
was a terrible plane in the hand of an inexperienced pilot but with an
experienced pilot it was an almost unstoppable dogfighter.

One pilot that
made the Fokker Dr 1 very successful was 'Richoften, Manfred Albrecht,
Rittmeister Freiherr von' or commonly known as the 'Red Baron'. He had 80
confirmed victories, which made him the most
successful pilot in World War 1. He was also the leader of the Flying
Circus or Jasta 11, (a squadron during World War One that shot down more
than 300 allied planes).

He was killed in his Fokker Dr 1 whilst chasing a
novice pilot fairly low to the ground.

The fatal single shot in the
heart, from below, was fired by Australian
machine gunners or by other ground troops.

The
Red Baron said the Fokker Dr 1 "Climbed like a monkey and manoeuvred
like the devil.

The Red Baron was awarded the Blue Max, which is the
common name for Prussia's highest military honour. Some people today
believe that the Red Baron's skill as a fighter pilot made the Fokker Dr 1 more famous than it
deserved to be.

Section of cotton
webbing ammunition belt from one of the two Luft Maschinen Gewehr
(LMG) 08/15s fitted to Baron Manfred von Richthofen's Fokker Dr I
aircraft.

A single 7.92mm bullet is fitted
to one pocket, its impressed headstamp markings indicates that it is
a Mauser S67 round manufactured in June 1917 by Rheinisch-Westfälische
Sprengstoff (RWS) A.G., of Utendörffer, Nürnberg.

This
round has been assembled using a fired cartridge, and is presumably
not part of the ammunition carried on von Richthofen's last flight,
but a later addition.

The dividers between the cartridge pockets on
the belt are made of steel, rather than the manufacturer's specified
brass, indicating that it was of German wartime economy manufacture.

Frank Ronald Rawlinson, enlisted in the AIF in August 1916, and
served as 424A 2nd Class Air Mechanic with 3 Squadron, Australian
Flying Corps.

He was present at the autopsy conducted on the body of
von Richthofen by the 3 Sqn doctor on the evening of 21 April 1918,
and removed several items from the crashed Fokker Dr I, 425/17, when
its remains were brought to 3 Squadron's airfield at Bertangles.

It carried a crew of 3 (pilot and 2 machine
gunners) and was propelled by two push propellers.

It had a distinctive
engine noise that the troops called "The Gotha Hum".

Gothas
bombed the ANZACs many times and were responsible for many casualties.

The Gotha line of "heavy"
bombers was a most important development for bomber aircraft. The Gotha
Ursinus G-I first flew in 1915. The aircraft were improved throughout the
war until the G-IV series. It was the mainstay of the German strategic
bomber program. It was the G-IV that participated in the bombing of London
and other locales in southern England once the Zeppelins were countered by
better aircraft and incendiary bullets. Later versions had biplane tails
with twin fins and eliminated the position for the nose gunner. The blunt
nose made it possible to place the engines closer together, and, coupled
with placing the tailfins in the slipstream, gave better one-engine
performance -- making it possible to run the engine at full power.

But
none of the type G twin engine biplanes could fly level on one engine.
Another feature of the Gotha G-IV was a 'tunnel' in the bottom of the
tail, that made it possible for the tail gunner to cover the lower rear of
the aircraft, making it a most difficult aircraft to successfully attack.
The first Allied pilot to down a Gotha did so from directly behind where
the gunner was blinded by the tail. However, this manoeuvre would not work
well with a good pilot in the Gotha.